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Inclusive one- and multi-nucleon removal cross sections have been measured for several Sn, Sb and Te isotopes just beyond the N=82 neutron shell closure. The beams were produced in the projectile fission of a 238U beam at the Radioactive Isotope Beam Factory at RIKEN. The experimental cross sections are compared to predictions from the most recent version of the Liege intranuclear cascade model. Although the overall agreement is good, severe discrepancies are observed for the cases of one- and two-neutron removal from 134Sn and 135Sb projectiles and one-proton knockout from all measured N=84 isotones. These discrepancies, as well as the relevance of quasi-elastic reaction channels to the one-neutron removal cross sections, are discussed. In addition, the measured inclusive one-proton knockout cross section for the semi-magic 134Sn projectile is compared to eikonal direct reaction theory calculations to assess if the suppression factors to these calculated cross sections, deduced from data on reactions of lighter projectile nuclei, are also applicable to heavy nuclei. Keywords: Inclusive knockout cross sections, Intranuclear cascade model, Eikonal reaction theory

The low-lying structures of the midshell νg9/2 Ni isotopes 72Ni and 74Ni have been investigated at the RIBF facility in RIKEN within the EURICA collaboration. Previously unobserved low-lying states were accessed for the first time following β decay of the mother nuclei 72Co and 74Co. As a result, we provide a complete picture in terms of the seniority scheme up to the first (8+) levels for both nuclei. The experimental results are compared to shell-model calculations in order to define to what extent the seniority quantum number is preserved in the first neutron g9/2 shell. We find that the disappearance of the seniority isomerism in the (81+) states can be explained by a lowering of the seniority-four (6+) levels as predicted years ago. For 74Ni, the internal de-excitation pattern of the newly observed (62+) state supports a restoration of the normal seniority ordering up to spin J=4. This property, unexplained by the shell-model calculations, is in agreement with a dominance of the single-particle spherical regime near 78Ni.

The level structures of 70Co and 70Ni, populated from the β decay of 70Fe, have been investigated using β-delayed γ-ray spectroscopy following in-flight fission of a 238U beam. The experimental results are compared to Monte-Carlo Shell-Model calculations including the pf+g9/2+d5/2 orbitals. The strong population of a (1+) state at 274 keV in 70Co is at variance with the expected excitation energy of ∼1 MeV from near spherical single-particle estimates. This observation indicates a dominance of prolate-deformed intruder configurations in the low-lying levels, which coexist with the normal near spherical states. It is shown that the β decay of the neutron-rich A=70 isobars from the new island of inversion to the Z=28 closed-shell regime progresses in accordance with a newly reported type of shell evolution, the so-called Type II, which involves many particle-hole excitations across energy gaps.

The β decays Mn68→Fe68, Mn69→Fe69 and Mn70→Fe70 have been measured at the RIBF facility at RIKEN using the EURICA γ spectrometer combined with an active stopper consisting of a stack of Si detectors. The nuclei were produced as fission fragments from a beam of 238U at a bombarding energy of 345 MeV/nucleon impinging on a Be target and selected using the BigRIPS separator. Half-lives and β-delayed neutron emission probabilities have been extracted for these decays, together with first experimental information on excited states populated in 69,70Fe. The data indicate a continuously increasing deformation for Fe isotopes up to A=70. This is interpreted, as for Cr isotopes, in terms of the interplay between the quadrupole correlations of the ν1d5/2 and ν0g9/2 orbitals and the monopole component of the π0f7/2–ν0f5/2 interaction.